How Gossett & Co. is Building Healthier Architecture in Austin
How the firm is leading the way in improved water filtration and lighting
A concept called biophilic design along with a focus on health and wellness — including enhanced water filtration system — is giving a foundation to architectural elements in homes built by Gossett & Co. Biophilic design incorporates architecture into natural elements that surround structures. Owner and president of Gossett & Co, Jared Gossett, believes spaces around us and in our homes are a strong force for overall health and mental health.
“We live ninety percent of our lives indoors. We don’t realize how strongly our indoor environment impacts our health,” says Gossett. “For us, it is truly important that we view homes as a major lever for either good or ill in the health of occupants. We personally try to put a heavy focus on wellness and build our homes in what we call a wellness centric manner.”
A home on Kennelwood drive in West Tarrytown near Oyster Bay Landing is a stunning example of biophilic design coupled with universal elements of healthy light, air, water and earth that Gossett & Co. finds crucial to emphasize in the design process. In 2021, Gossett’s team began the process of a new home build on the property, which backs up to Austin’s 1960s Rockmoore Estate, in a prime location that’s secluded in a heavily wooded area that feels like a private reserve, yet only minutes away from downtown.
In partnership with Austin architect, Jay Corder, Gossett and his team removed a formerly existing home on the property and got to work — first incorporating the beautiful natural elements already there.
“Whenever you are in the house, it almost has a treehouse-like effect. It feels like you are just hugged by all the nature around you,” says Gossett. “We really utilized the large trees onsite and the trees around and adjacent to the property to incorporate that into window patterns. That’s really critical for biophilic design because you want the occupants that live in the space to feel a strong connection to nature and achieve the well-being that comes from that.”
In addition to a connection with nature, the home also has a heavy focus on natural light, along with a strong grounding in organic materials, including a stucco with a natural pigment and steel patterns.
“You’ve got this connection between a brick and natural stucco and steel, and it’s just kind of a raw material pallet,” explains Gossett.
Designed for a young family that recently moved to Austin, the home has five bedrooms, a basement, two living areas, a room that’s finished out with a golf simulator, three different outdoor living areas, including an upstairs balcony and a downstairs outdoor kitchen. The home also features a wine cellar with enough racks for hundreds of bottles of wine. The wine cellar room, itself, is chilled separate from the house, with the ability to get down to 50 degrees. A mini courtyard at the entrance of the home also creates an immediate Zen feeling as you enter the property.
Full home water filtration is also a special emphasis of Gossett & Co., with a unique take on just how purely water should be distributed. To enhance the cleanliness of water, the company not only ensures filtration of water that families will be drinking, but the water they are showering in can be filtered as well.
“These ‘forever chemicals’ are being found in different public municipal water supplies,” says Gossett. “I don’t think anybody has water that’s completely crystal clear, so it’s important for us to offer advanced filtration to our clients and families.”
Lighting systems with less reliance on fluorescent lights can also impact the overall health of home occupants. Blue light is beneficial to humans during the day because the sun produces natural blue light, but at night, too much blue light can affect the body’s production of melatonin, which helps people get a good night’s rest.
“As the sun goes down, that spectrum produces warmer amber tones, but the artificial light in our homes doesn’t do the same,” says Gossett. “We put in what we call ‘dim to warmer’ systems in our homes, which means during the day you have light that’s at full capacity and producing more blue light. You dim them at night, and it’ll actually pull the blue light out and make it a little bit warmer.” It’s an excellent system for health, wellness and wellbeing in home design, and one that Gossett believes will only grow in popularity within the next decade.
